Driven De Soto
Bob Lenio has a real sense of just how much space his 1959 De Soto Fireflite convertible requires.
“Buying a house,” he recalled, “I had a tape measure for every garage I looked at for this and at first, the realtor didn’t get it. But afterwards, she did.”
The manufacturer obviously had a sense of it, too, as the 1959 De Soto owner’s manual lists on its specifications page “garage information — car overall length with bumpers and guards” for the Fireflite as 221.1 inches. To put some perspective on that, a 2021 Chevy Suburban measures 225.7 inches.
Driven to De Soto
Chrysler launched De Soto for 1929 and if that seems like a textbook example of bad timing, the new car was off to a solid start before the Great Depression hit by being introduced in the
